We love to watch a good fight, don’t we?

Nov. 16, 2012, 12:00 am

By KAMAL KAUR

The other evening I decided I’d had enough of cooking and went on a mini-strike. I didn't want to cook any dinner. This is Ok if you’re single and can survive on just popcorn or last week’s dinner but when you have kids you need to feed them at the time they are used to being fed.

You cannot really say dinner will be an hour late. The little people do not understand this kind of talk when they are hungry.

We ended up piling into the car and off we went to Diamond Plaza. I went to DP after a very long time and I get constantly shocked at the way there’s always something new to see here.

Suddenly there’s a big building and something they call a new wing though each time there is some construction that happens here, it automatically gets called the new wing.

So while I was still two wings away from catching up with the new wing, my children seemed to know about the developments.

You see, they hang out at DP with my Dad almost every other weekend. He seems to be parting with what I feel are copious amounts of cash though he says it’s just a couple of hundred bob, for the kids to spend on something of their choice.

While I looked around like a lost tourist, marveling at the sights and new shops that seem to have popped up, my kids gave me an impromptu tour.

They seemed to know what shops were at what location. My son was at first name basis with one of the shopkeepers who knew my son’s name and asked him about my Dad. Clearly I need to get out a bit, eh?

I’m digressing. As we left the restaurant after our meal I heard some raised voices and as we walked towards the exit, I saw a small crowd had gathered.

It kept growing by the second as we got closer and the voices got louder. It seemed like someone had had his car dented while the askari had just stood there so the irate man was giving a telling off to the askari, who in turn was not going to take any nonsense from anyone.

He yelled even louder, telling the irate man that his vehicle had been parked on the premises at his own risk. So while those two were sorting their maneno out, I scanned the faces in the crowed and saw bemused expressions plastered on many faces.

It was very clear that most people who had gathered around seemed to be enjoying this impromptu show in the early evening to give them a diversion from their boring routine they might have been getting on with.

For someone to stop everything just to gather around just to watch a fight, it must mean they seriously have nothing better to do.

This doesn’t just happen at shopping malls. It seems to happen everywhere in Kenya. When there is an accident, most of the time the traffic jam behind is not caused because of the accident but because curious drivers and pedestrians alike are slowing down just to get a glimpse of something that they deep down thankfully wish isn’t them.

Morbid curiosity probably accounts for a large percentage of accident-related traffic jams on our roads. No one can explain why we tend to do this and it’s not really about to stop, but if you’re one of the these ogling demons, kindly put a stop to it and get on with your life.

You never know what Karma has in store. You might be on the receiving end one of these fine days. Yes, I’m just saying all this to scare you so that I don’t have to get stuck behind your ogle-fest. Move it!